HUNDREDS of Ugandans lured to South Africa with promises of education and job opportunities have ended up on Johannesburg streets empty-handed.
Some abandon their jobs expecting high pay only to discover too late that they are victims of a racket based in South Africa with contacts in Uganda. The conmen also target parents who want to get a good education for their children. The unsuspecting parents bite the attractive baits and pay large sums of money only to discover they have been duped in what is emerging as a big trans-border scam.
According to Sunday Vision investigations, a Ugandan graduate who responded to an advert in a newspaper for a job, paid sh2.4m and travelled to South Africa, ended up distributing hand bills for a traditional healer. He was paid (R30) sh9,000 per day and lived in a dilapidated one-bedroom house with 12 others.
Another Ugandan gave up his job at Roofings Ltd, sold his piece of land and household properties for a better life in South Africa. Upon arrival, the big job he had been promised was not available, but he was taught tricks to pretend as a witchdoctor. But he failed to do the job and now roams the streets of Hillbrow, a suburb of Johannesburg where many stranded Ugandans are languishing.
To survive, the Ugandans take on odd jobs and some do errands for witchdoctors. Witchcraft being lucrative in South Africa some of the Ugandans masquerade as traditional healers to earn a living.
It all started when Richard Musiime read an advert in one of the newspapers promising jobs, work permits or education in South Africa.
Richard (not real name) had just graduated from university and after discussing with the recruitment firm based in Johannesburg and with a branch in Kampala about the opportunities, he was sure of earning gold once in South Africa.
Being from a well-to-do family, his parents paid the R8,000 (sh2.4m) that the firm had made them believe would get him the job.
After paying the money, he was then asked to travel by road to South Africa, given phone contacts and in each country he arrived, he surely found someone waiting at the border point, purportedly to be working for the company and helped him enter through.
Not until he reached Johannesburg was he abandoned. He ended up in the suburb of Mayville.
Stranded, Richard ended up working for a traditional healer, distributing hand bills for traditional doctors from East Africa, for a pay of R30 (sh9,000) per day and later sleeping in a one-bedroom dilapidated house which he shared with 12 others.
Richard is not alone. Isaac Wasike abandoned his job at Roofings Ltd, sold his piece of land in Zana and his household properties for a better life in South Africa.
He was invited by a friend, who told him they could run a lucrative business in Johannesburg. Upon arrival in South Africa, Wasike’s friend confessed to him that he was a quack witchdoctor. With nothing to come back to, Wasike, 32, bought the idea, injected R10,000 (sh3m) into the business and another R5,000 (sh1.5m) allegedly to process his work permit.
on the streets of Hillbrow
Wasike was taken through the tricks of convincing clients into parting with huge sums of money or property. However, upon reporting for work, the landlord informed him that the police had been looking for his friend and he owed rent arrears. He quickly called his friend, who promised to come to his rescue but that was the last time he heard from him.
Wasike now walks and sleeps on the streets of Hillbrow, a suburb of Johannesburg, where many stranded Ugandans are languishing. For a living, he is distributing pamphlets advertising witchdoctors’ services on how to bring back lost love.
Peter Mukasa
He worked for a financial institution, but always looked forward to a better life and when he was told of lucrative jobs in the city of gold; he quickly resigned, packed his bags and left for Johannesburg.
“My intention was to transform my life. My friends had assured me it was better here and we all knew how fast Ugandans living in South Africa moved up the economic ladder. They usually buy land and set up businesses and properties within a short space of time. That’s why I resigned my job,” Mukasa, 27, said.
Mukasa, however, refused to deposit the required sh3m.
“I told them I would give them the money once I arrived. In every country I went through, someone was waiting for me to ensure I was on a bus. They would then give me telephone contacts for a person waiting in the next country,” Mukasa said.
“When I arrived at Park Station, the man I had been in contact with instructed me to deposit the money on a certain bank account before he could fetch me. But when I told him I would only do that after meeting him, he said he was in Swaziland and switched off his phone,” Mukasa said.
He ended up distributing pamphlets adverting penis enlargement before making his way to Pretoria and now stays with “a friend”.
Musiime was lucky that his parents had contacts in South Africa, who tracked him down to Mayville and he is now back home. But many young Ugandans have ended up on the streets of South Africa, after being enticed with promises of high-paying jobs and benefits.
After using up their life savings to secure these jobs, they arrived in South Africa only to be asked to distribute pamphlets advertising quack traditional doctors. Some are kept in bondage with threats that the police will arrest them because they are living in South Africa illegally.
The scheme appears to be operated by those based in downtown area of Hillbrow and a Pretoria-based Ugandan who advertises in Uganda’s newspapers and on radio stations.
This organisation has a branch on Entebbe road. It has posters plastered around Kampala.
When someone responds to the advert, they are told to deposit up to R10,000 (sh3m) in a certain bank account to enable recruiters to sort out paperwork with prospective employers and to secure work permits.
When I sought their help to travel to South Africa and that I was seeking to work in Johannesburg. I was told to take four passport photos, a photocopy of my passport and a registration fee of sh10,000.
I was asked to pay $1,000 in order for them to process my work permit and I was given an assurance that its parent company in South Africa would have my work permit and temporary accommodation ready by the time I arrived there.
The unsuspecting victims are always instructed to travel by road to South Africa. When they arrive in the country, either they discover their recruiters have disappeared or they are turned into pamphlet-distributing “boys” or “girls”.
The victims are told that they don’t need a visa to enter South Africa. Indeed victims like Michael Kagolo got into South Africa without a visa or having his passport stamped at any border point.
The racket seems to involve customs officials at the different border points, who let in the victim without any documentation. It is only at the South African border that the victim’s name is written on an A4-size piece of paper.
Stephen Twinoburyo, who lives in Pretoria narrates that early this year a Ugandan boy, phoned him from the Musina border after entering South Africa and said the person he was going to see had said that Twinoburyo, as the AUPSA (The Association of Ugandan Professionals in South Africa) chairman, would assist transport him to Johannesburg since he was busy at the time and was no longer reachable on phone.
“I told him that I live in Pretoria and that there is no way the ‘host person’ could have expected me to drive to Musina, 400 km away, to fetch him,” he said.
students not spared
What is more shocking is that the young professionals and students are lured to South Africa by Ugandans who are respected and well connected at home.
Those left humiliated and stranded thousands of miles away from home, walk the streets of Johannesburg, Pretoria or at the borders of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
A section of those operating the racket are, however, witchdoctors but masquerade as college principals offering scholarships or placement agencies.
MOLLY AND GRACE
The two students left Uganda with the hope of furthering their education at a college in Pretoria. Their parents were promised scholarships. But the two are now working in a restaurant in order to survive and share a three by four square metre bedroom with seven other girls.
Wilber Onyango Randari, a Ugandan businessman in Pretoria who runs Face of Africa restaurant, employs some of the students who are leaving in dire conditions in South Africa.
“The students approached me one day, they told me they were from Uganda and needed help,” said Onyango.
He narrated that when he visited the place where these students were living, “it was appalling. I found seven of them cramped in one tiny room,” said Onyango.
“I then approached the Brooklyn College principal, who told me that they only offered them school fees and the students have to cater for the rest,” he said.
Onyango said the circular, issued out to the parents of these students indicated that they needed only sh100,000 for accommodation and sh50,000 for feeding. This, Onyango said, is not even half of what the students needed. The cheapest accommodation would go for R800, (sh240,000).
Patrick Kyazze, who owns an internet business in Pretoria, said he is usually approached by Ugandan students who have been promised fully paid bursaries.
“It is really bad. They end up distributing pamphlets, and when they go to the embassy, they are told that hundreds of other people had sought help in a similar way,” he said.
Brooklyn College offers certificate courses and it is run by Ivan Semwanga together with his wife Zarina Zaitun.
Semwanga recently offered 50 scholarships to the Kingdom of Buganda and this offer was specifically for tuition. Scholars are supposed to meet their own travel and accommodation costs.
A copy of a recommendation letter for one of the students, James Yiga, purportedly signed by an official on behalf of the kingdom’s state minister for education, Ahmed Lwasa, states that only tuitions fees would be covered.
“Both the students and the kingdom know that we only offer tution and they are expected to meet upkeep costs,” said Zaitun, CEO Brooklyn College.
She said the stranded students turned up without admissions from her college.
The South African High Commission in Uganda said they heard of the college when the Buganda kingdom approached them for visas but asked for documents, which the education minister is yet to avail them.
The high commission warned those travelling to South Africa not to expect gold once there.
Ugandans living in South Africa describe the racket as composed of semi-literate Ugandans.
“They are the kind of people you would not find in the mainstream Ugandan community because of the nature of their jobs,” said Twinoburyo. “They employ a number of people to run their units — thus going around collecting money.”
The South African police in Pretoria in June arrested and prosecuted four Ugandans, one Nigerian and two South African citizens for running illegal colleges.
“This follows the closing down of more illegal colleges across the country by police. Even more sarcastically, some of these colleges offered training courses in policing, when in fact only government’s the police colleges authentically offer such training,” said South African Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa.
colleges closed
The operation to crack down on illegal colleges, some run by Ugandans, started in May and by last month seven arrests had been made and 14 colleges closed.
“Instead of refraining from their illegal practices, these ‘directors’ ignored our call. Now they are feeling the heat. We will ensure they receive the harshest punishment because their actions clearly amount to criminality,” said Mthethwa.
“Beyond just arresting these scoundrels who rob our children of their future, we are also embarking on a campaign to name and shame them publicly; so that we also warn all potential students not to fall victim of suc rackets,” he added.
During the raids, police confiscated and are in possession of some of the ‘certificates’ which are issued to students upon completion of their studies. Some of these fake certificates even resemble those issued by the South African Qualifications Authority, and other certification bodies.
The South African Consular in Uganda, Johannes Van Niekerk, urged parents and students to verify with the high commission in Uganda before enrolling in any college.
Blame on Uganda high commission
The Ugandan community in South Africa, however, believes the Ugandan High Commission in South Africa is not doing enough to save its citizens who have fallen victim to this crime.
The high commission has not responded to queries sent to it two weeks ago.
“When you approach the embassy, they ask you to fill some forms and tell you to pay $50 for a temporary travel document. Some of these people have gone for days without food, got no where to sleep and the high commission still asks them for money,” noted a Ugandan.
“The embassy is there not only to protect Uganda’s interests here, but also to help Ugandans back home with relevant information that emanates from here. It’s high time the embassy stepped forward and protected Ugandans,” said Twinoburyo.
Ugandan ‘doctors’ top list of crooks
They are commonly known as doctor (or sometimes professor), but they are Uganda‘s biggest unwanted export to South Africa.
The South African communities are highly superstitious and believe that ancestors guide and protect the living through traditional healers. Due to these superstitious beliefs, sangomas are considered to be holy men and women who can bring good luck to their communities and chase away evil spirits.
As a result of this respect and many incentives that go with this worthwhile healing profession, foreign traditional healers have flooded the market promising the highly superstitious Southern Africans heaven on earth.
The majority of these traditional healers are from Nigeria and Uganda. They claim to have powers to cure all sorts of illnesses, make the poor rich, bring back lost love, win court cases, win the lotto and predict the future.
Due to their aggressive adverts and alleged expertise, they are now considered the best in the business of sorcery.
They are paid consultation fees ranging from R40 (sh12,000) to R80 (sh24,000) and clients are charged according to the problems they present.
The healers demand as payment cash, cars and since its taboo to question traditional healers in sections of South African, they exploit that and go to the extent of asking for credit cards with threats that if the clients refuse, they will lose their family members.
“It’s an activity they wouldn’t carry out in Uganda but clearly, it’s one of Uganda’s biggest exports to South Africa,” said Priscilla Namukasa, a Ugandan working for the South African government.
The Ugandan traditional healers rent rooms in towns for their business and you will always find them in groups. For those who sell the herbal medicine, it’s difficult to know the source as they never tell you.
The South African law recognises traditional medicine and it is common to find certificates hanging on the walls of these clinics, claiming they have attended traditional medicine courses in Uganda and other East African countries.
They give themselves titles such as Doctor or Professor Sula, Ndugu, Shaba Shaba etc. They also use phony names, usually Islamic names to advertise their trade.
There are tales of those who have been asked to deposit large sums of money which the sangoma goes on to mutiply, others have been asked to surrender their cars and usually when the victims do these, they close shop and relocate to another town.
South African Police act
In August, a quack Ugandan traditional healer, caught in the get-rich-scam was arraigned in Nelspruit Magistrate’s court.
Police spokesperson Leonard Hlathi said in an interview with Sapa newspaper that the Ugandan traditional healer allegedly demanded R29,000 (sh8.7m) from a man who came to be cleansed, in exchange for a share of R900,000 (sh270m).
The healer claimed he wanted the money to buy 13 cows, which needed to be sacrificed so he could open a metal box containing the sh270m.
When the victim delivered R29,000 (sh8.7m), the healer allegedly demanded R10,000 (sh3m) more, saying he needed more cows. He then approached the police, who arrested the Ugandan.
“He was found to be in possession of a fraudulent Zimbabwean passport and fraudulent asylum permit,” said the police in a statement.
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